HOTEL GLOSSARY
Speak hotel.
The acronyms and terms you will hear on your first week — explained in one sentence each. 22 terms
- ADR
- Average Daily Rate. Room revenue divided by rooms sold. The average price paid per occupied room.
- BAR
- Best available rate. The standard public rate for a given date, before discounts or packages.
- Channel manager
- Software that keeps availability and rates in sync across every booking channel and sends their reservations to the PMS.
- Comp
- Something given free of charge, such as a complimentary room, drink or upgrade.
- Cut-off date
- The date when unbooked rooms in a group block are released back to general sale.
- DND
- Do not disturb. The guest has asked not to be interrupted, including by housekeeping.
- Folio
- The guest’s account: every charge and payment during the stay.
- Incidentals
- Charges beyond the room rate, such as minibar, restaurant or parking. Often covered by a deposit or card hold.
- Late check-out
- Leaving after the standard check-out time, often for an extra fee.
- Night audit
- The nightly process that posts charges, balances accounts and closes the business day.
- No-show
- A guest with a reservation who neither arrives nor cancels.
- Occupancy
- Rooms sold divided by rooms available, as a percentage.
- OOO / OOS
- Out of order (cannot be sold, usually for repairs) / Out of service (temporarily unavailable but still counted as inventory).
- OTA
- Online travel agency, such as the big booking sites. They sell rooms for the hotel in exchange for a commission.
- Overbooking
- Accepting more reservations than available rooms, expecting some no-shows and cancellations.
- PMS
- Property management system. The hotel’s main software for reservations, rooms, guests and folios.
- Rack rate
- The official, undiscounted published price of a room. Rarely what guests actually pay.
- RevPAR
- Revenue per available room. Room revenue divided by rooms available — or ADR × occupancy.
- Turndown
- An evening housekeeping service: preparing the bed, tidying and refreshing the room.
- Upsell
- Offering a guest a better room or extra service for an additional price.
- Walk (a guest)
- Relocating a guest with a reservation to another hotel because the property is overbooked.
- Walk-in
- A guest who arrives without a reservation.
Practical guides, quick tips and the words hotels use — written from the other side of the counter.
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